3Com Palm Portable Keyboard (P10713U)
- Input Interface Type: Keyboard
- Platform: PC
Available From
Why are these offers here?
Smart Buy!
Lowest price from a Trusted Store
Lowest Price!
- Overview
-
Reviews
- Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
Tapping is bad for you, get a keyboard.
Pros
convenient, small and folds
Cons
software needed
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Great for people that actually have something to write
I decided to buy this keyboard when I got fed up with tapping everything into my palm with either the little popup keyboard or graffiti. The problem? It was too slow. I wrote my gladiator review on my handspring visor deluxe and almost went insane with how slow it was. So I decided that when I got my Palm m505 I would finally cough up the 99.00 bucks to speed up my typing. Now I'll tell you, it was definitely worth it.
My problem is that I can't type for more than 5 minutes without my wrist bothering me. This keyboard is no exception, but it is still much faster than typing on the screen.
When I first saw this keyboard I was surprised at the size. Its about one inch thick while folded and unfolds into a keyboard about the size of a laptop, and is very high quality. It has two holes to hold your stylus for applications that don't have a button on the side of the keyboard. On the right side of the keyboard there are four buttons: Date/Apps, Phone/Memo, To Do/Calc, and Note/Find.
To open the keyboard you push a button which immediately pops the keyboard open. You then push the two outer pieces inboard until they click, and pull out the rest directly above the 5 and 6. I recommend using this because without it your palm handheld will fall off.
So far I have only found two problems with my portable keyboard.
1. You need to install software into your hand held first so that you can use the keyboard. Without it, you are screwed. This software takes up 47 K on your handheld, and if you only have 2 megabytes to begin with, this may concern you. I, on the other hand, have 8, and at the time I also have a 16 MB expansion card. I could care less how much memory the keyboard program takes up.
2. After typing for a while on a not so flat surface (you really need a flat surface for the keyboard to work well) the handheld starts to loosen from its cradle. All of a sudden my screen goes from memo or documents to go into hotsync mode. My stupid Palm thinks that it's hotsyncing and I have to cancel and return to whatever problem that I had been playing with earlier. It may seem like its an easy task to return to another program, but after it happens a couple times, it starts to get annoying. I have absolutely no patience, can you tell?
Closing the keyboard is easy too. You pull out the outer two piece, push the palm rest back in and fold the keyboard. Snap all four corners together and hide it from your plastic eating dog.
The black keyboard is made of plastic and metal, has a well made, durable design. Cases are available for both your palm handheld and your case, but I consider them to be too bulky and more of a hastle (both in price and in size) than it is worth.
In conclusion (I think), the Palm Portable Keyboard is a great buy if you do a lot of typing on your Palm. If you don't do very much typing, I don't recommend buying it. I'm very happy with my keyboard and I plan to use it for all of my typing needs.
My problem is that I can't type for more than 5 minutes without my wrist bothering me. This keyboard is no exception, but it is still much faster than typing on the screen.
When I first saw this keyboard I was surprised at the size. Its about one inch thick while folded and unfolds into a keyboard about the size of a laptop, and is very high quality. It has two holes to hold your stylus for applications that don't have a button on the side of the keyboard. On the right side of the keyboard there are four buttons: Date/Apps, Phone/Memo, To Do/Calc, and Note/Find.
To open the keyboard you push a button which immediately pops the keyboard open. You then push the two outer pieces inboard until they click, and pull out the rest directly above the 5 and 6. I recommend using this because without it your palm handheld will fall off.
So far I have only found two problems with my portable keyboard.
1. You need to install software into your hand held first so that you can use the keyboard. Without it, you are screwed. This software takes up 47 K on your handheld, and if you only have 2 megabytes to begin with, this may concern you. I, on the other hand, have 8, and at the time I also have a 16 MB expansion card. I could care less how much memory the keyboard program takes up.
2. After typing for a while on a not so flat surface (you really need a flat surface for the keyboard to work well) the handheld starts to loosen from its cradle. All of a sudden my screen goes from memo or documents to go into hotsync mode. My stupid Palm thinks that it's hotsyncing and I have to cancel and return to whatever problem that I had been playing with earlier. It may seem like its an easy task to return to another program, but after it happens a couple times, it starts to get annoying. I have absolutely no patience, can you tell?
Closing the keyboard is easy too. You pull out the outer two piece, push the palm rest back in and fold the keyboard. Snap all four corners together and hide it from your plastic eating dog.
The black keyboard is made of plastic and metal, has a well made, durable design. Cases are available for both your palm handheld and your case, but I consider them to be too bulky and more of a hastle (both in price and in size) than it is worth.
In conclusion (I think), the Palm Portable Keyboard is a great buy if you do a lot of typing on your Palm. If you don't do very much typing, I don't recommend buying it. I'm very happy with my keyboard and I plan to use it for all of my typing needs.
